Peru breaks ties with Libya

LIMA, Peru – Peru's government has announced it is suspending diplomatic relations with Libya to protest the violence unleashed by its leader Moammar Gadhafi against his people.

A statement released Tuesday evening by President Alan Garcia's office on its website said Peru would ask the U.N. Security Council to establish an exclusion zone in Libyan airspace "to prevent the use of that country's warplanes against (its) population."

It quoted Garcia as saying the suspension of relations would not end "until the violence against the people ceases."

Garcia noted that Libya's government "has been led for 40 years by the same person."